1. Field
One or more exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a rechargeable battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a rechargeable battery differs from a primary battery in that the former is designed to be repeatedly charged and discharged, while the latter is not designed to be recharged. A low-capacity rechargeable battery is used in small portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, notebook computers, and camcorders, while a high-capacity rechargeable battery is widely used as a power source for driving a motor of a hybrid vehicle.
As typical rechargeable batteries, there are a nickel-cadmium (Ni—Cd) battery, a nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery, a lithium (Li) battery, a lithium ion (Li-ion) battery, etc. Particularly, the lithium ion rechargeable battery has an operating voltage about thrice as high as that of the Ni—Cd battery or Ni-MH battery that is widely used as a power supply for electronic devices. In addition, the lithium ion rechargeable battery has been widely used because of high energy density per unit weight.
In the rechargeable battery, a lithium-based oxide has been used as a positive active material, and a carbon material has been used as a negative active material. Generally, batteries are classified into a liquid electrolyte battery and a polymer electrolyte battery depending on the type of electrolyte, and lithium batteries using a liquid electrolyte are called lithium ion batteries while batteries using a polymer electrolyte are called lithium polymer batteries.
Multiple rechargeable batteries are aligned along one direction to constitute a battery module. In the battery module, electrode terminals of adjacent ones of the rechargeable batteries are connected by a bus bar. However, to connect the bus bar to the electrode terminal, an additional terminal is required at the side of the end of the electrode terminal protruding outside the cap plate. That is, the electrode terminal is further installed with a plate terminal connected in the plate shape into the side of the end protruding outside the cap plate, and the plate terminal is welded in a state of contact in the bus bar.
Accordingly, to connect the electrode terminal and the bus bar, an additional part (or parts), such as the plate terminal and the electrode terminal, are required, and the manufacturing cost is increased accordingly.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the described technology, and therefore may contain information that does not form the prior art.